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Engineers at Beihang University and Harvard's Wyss Institute use models to zero in on creating the perfect octopus tentacle for industrial gripping uses.

Data from the New Horizons probe, flying in the asteroid field far beyond Pluto, have finally been downloaded and analyzed. They challenge our previous views of the formation of the solar system.

A team from the University of Colorado Boulder finds a new way to measure how much extra snow can be produced by cloud seeding.

by Kevin Dervishi figures by Tal Scully You’re in the frozen goods aisle of the grocery store, surveying ice cream flavors. You’re cradling a bottle of wine–or maybe it’s a six-pack of beer. It doesn’t matter. Suddenly, someone down the aisle calls your…

by Rebecca Silberman figures by Aparna Nathan Seen through the harsh, unsentimental lens of evolutionary biology, menopause doesn’t make sense. Why don’t women live like giraffes, like tarantulas, like pigeons, reproducing throughout their lives in…

by Catherine Gutierrez figures by Aparna Nathan Forty-nine years ago, President Richard Nixon launched a “War on Cancer”. That war has not ended—it rages on today, with cancer right behind heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States.…

Researchers at Max Planck Institute for Brain Research have discovered a mammalian claustrum in reptiles, believed to impact decision-making and consciousness. The study hints at the claustrum’s prehistoric existence, in mammals, reptiles, and possibly…

by Anthony Badea figures by Anastasia Ershova Long before our world took shape, The Big Bang sent a shockwave of energy irradiating through a violently expanding Universe. In one millionth of a millionth of a second, the primordial fabric of existence…

by Lorena Lyon figures by Rebecca Senft Today, the discussion of climate change generally relates to human impact on the environment since the Industrial Revolution (1760 to mid-1800s). But, how have humans been impacting the planet before then? And how…

by Gregory Brunette figures by Daniel Utter Every year, new biology students dig for tiny, bacteria-infecting viruses called phages. Short for bacteriophages, these ubiquitous viruses thrive unseen in the world around us, replicating endlessly through…